Essex Property Trust (ESS) Competitors

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) and Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, community ranking, media sentiment, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in AVB or ESS?

92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Essex Property Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is AVB or ESS a better dividend stock?

AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Essex Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $9.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. AvalonBay Communities pays out 93.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essex Property Trust pays out 114.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AVB or ESS?

Essex Property Trust received 54 more outperform votes than AvalonBay Communities when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.47% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 56.40% of users gave Essex Property Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AvalonBay Communities	Outperform Votes 673 60.47%	Underperform Votes 440 39.53%
Essex Property Trust	Outperform Votes 727 56.40%	Underperform Votes 562 43.60%

Is AVB or ESS more profitable?

AvalonBay Communities has a net margin of 36.20% compared to Essex Property Trust's net margin of 31.55%. Essex Property Trust's return on equity of 9.72% beat AvalonBay Communities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AvalonBay Communities	36.20%	8.84%	4.98%
Essex Property Trust	31.55%	9.72%	4.36%

Which has higher earnings & valuation, AVB or ESS?

AvalonBay Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Essex Property Trust. AvalonBay Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Essex Property Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AvalonBay Communities	$2.77B	11.21	$928.83M	$7.31	29.84
Essex Property Trust	$1.67B	10.92	$405.83M	$8.56	33.14

Does the media favor AVB or ESS?

In the previous week, Essex Property Trust had 10 more articles in the media than AvalonBay Communities. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Essex Property Trust and 11 mentions for AvalonBay Communities. Essex Property Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat AvalonBay Communities' score of 0.68 indicating that Essex Property Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AvalonBay Communities	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Essex Property Trust	10 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, AVB or ESS?

AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer AVB or ESS?

AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus target price of $234.53, indicating a potential upside of 7.53%. Essex Property Trust has a consensus target price of $305.42, indicating a potential upside of 7.67%. Given Essex Property Trust's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Essex Property Trust is more favorable than AvalonBay Communities.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AvalonBay Communities	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Essex Property Trust	1 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Summary

AvalonBay Communities and Essex Property Trust tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.